The SALAD Chronicles
by Macampos
Summary: In a crazily different world filled with war and politics, A young boy, a girl, and their friends are stuck in the middle of it all. Will they survive?....full summary inside, SxS, YxC
1. Chapter 1

**YARGH! This thing is pissing me off! Everything that I wrote here before... DESTROYED! meh. Being a newbie and learning the system here is hard, no? No matter. I shall paraphrase everything:**

**DISCLAIMER: **The characters Syaoran, Sakura, Takashi, Chiharu, and Eriol are based LOOSELY off the characters of the same name in the anime/manga Cardcaptor Sakura, and are owned by their authors/artists, CLAMP. The story, plot, and original characters within this fanfiction are owned by me, and me only. (Pm first before using an original character, please).

Description: In a messed up world where, in order to end all wars, a "game" has been created... each country turns in anyone from age 13-17 into a giant free for all. The last one standing wins, and that country is to take charge of politics for the next year. But there's something else amist here... something or someone is playing the rules, and with national politics tied, the children involved are nothing more than mere pawns in a game of global proportions. Getting sucked into it is inveitable... but can they survive it?

And now, without further adoo:

Team United: The SALAD Chronicles:

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"Syaoran!"

"No good, he's out cold."

"Is he going to make it?"

"Wait! His eyes are opening..."

The voices seemed to be coming from directly above me. I slowly cracked open an eyelid, opening the other one as well to the face of a concerned girl. She had brilliant emerald eyes, light brown hair, and a worried look.

"Ahh, so he's awake! Guess you got to him just in time, Sakura..." said a blue-haired boy from behind her, this one wearing round eyeglasses.

I attempted to stand, but was caught by a sharp, piercing pain near my stomach. The girl gently pushed me back down, saying as she did so:

"Don't move, Syaoran-kun, your wound is bad..."

I laid my head back down reluctantly, looking up at the dark-green sky. It was then that I noticed it was raining; the steady pitter-patter of raindrops became evident, a few drops hitting my face.

I winced as another surge of pain came from my stomach.

What happened to me?

"You don't remember, Syaoran-kun?"

I shook my head slowly, Sakura becoming even more worried.

"What did he do to you..." she said, quietly.

"He's lost a lot of blood. Perhaps it has affected his mind." said the boy, as Sakura continued to wrap more bandages around my waist. Slowly, memories began to float in...

"There, you can move your head now, take it easy... I'm glad you're awake at last, Syaoran-kun." she said this with a hint of affection.

I slowly sat up, wincing in pain from whatever grievous wound I had begotten in my stomach. The first thing I noticed upon sitting up were helmets... everyone was wearing one. Sakura's had a red cross stamped on it, above the words "medic". The helmet was moved back a bit to show her bangs, and it seemed a little oversized for her.

Behind her, the boy with the glasses who spoke earlier was conversing with another boy, who had similar colored hair, and whose eyes seemed to be perpetually closed.

Relieved, Sakura began to put away her medical supplies as I looked around. The dark-green sky I had observed earlier turned out to be a tarp, supported by three metal rods salvaged from broken fencing. Water spilled through a hole in the tarp, drops falling randomly on my face.

My right hand found something... on a dish nearby was a long dagger, bloodily stained from use. This shocked me for a moment, as it was no doubt the same weapon that had inflicted the...

I looked at my stomach. What I saw were many bandages... some stained red with dry blood. With the slightest movement, the sharp pain returned, emanating from it. I grimaced.

Sakura took notice at once.

"Syaoran-kun, please lie down... you'll never get better that way." she said, in the same sorta affectionate way as before. I complied as movement coming from the edge of the tarp caught my eye.

It was another boy; he had rich white-gray hair and a medium build; he was chained with his hands and wrists behind him, sitting on the floor next to a pole.

His gaze turned towards me, and he smirked. Red eyes shone like rubies from him, dark and gleaming.

I also noticed that there was a large bump on his forehead. Ouch.

"Wha... what!? MOM! I told you not to call me on our radio..."

I turned my head towards the direction of the voice. A short-haired girl with eyeglasses was yelling into a microphone, connected to a radio. For some reason, I could only remember Sakura's name... why?

What happened to me?

"You know those giant crossbows used in the old ages? Supposedly, some of the big High-Landers actually carried those to war with them and shot them at people!"

After he had said this, the blue-haired boy without glasses was cuffed lightly from behind by a girl with brown ponytails.

"Again with your lies, you haven't changed a bit, Takashi." she said, pulling the boy backwards.

"Aww, Chiharu..." he said, in an affectionate tone.

"That's Private Mihara to you, Private Yamazaki." she said, dragging Takashi away from the boy with the eyeglasses. He simply smiled and continued reading a small book he had picked up earlier.

Movement again. The white-haired boy stood up... his shackles seemed to slide right off.

Danger... I could sense it as he made his way towards Sakura, who was oblivious to him, arranging her first-aid kit.

A sickening smile formed on his lips as he came within striking distance of Sakura. Out of nowhere, he pulled out a switch-blade, and, after smiling first at me, he sent his free right hand down towards Sakura's head.

For a flash moment, everything was clear; some of my lost memories came back... the memory of how I received this wound. He was the one who stabbed me.

That... smile. He knew I could do nothing, and the others would've been too late.

Instinctively, I grabbed the nearest object... in this case, the bloodied dagger... and threw it at him with all the might I could muster.

The dagger zoomed past Sakura's head, hitting the white-haired boy in his wrist.

He yelled in pain and surprise, jolting back and clutching his hurt hand with his left one. Sakura, equally surprised, got out of the way, crawling next to me. The shock of pain returned to my stomach, so much so that I clutched it with my right hand. The boy with the glasses was alerted to the event, reaching for a hidden holster. Private Yamazaki ran back with Private Mihara, carrying a rifle.

The white-haired boy was too enthralled with the pain in his wrist, blood dripping out of the fresh wound, ironically, made by his own dagger. He was distracted long enough for the boy wearing the eyeglasses to hit him with the butt of a revolver he had drawn, knocking the other out.

Another surge of pain came, this one excruciatingly worse than the others. I fell back, and, without warning, blacked out...

"Syaoran!"

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Author's notes: What would happen... if one were reading a book about war, and thinking about the CCS characters at the same time? Well, you're looking at it. Thought of on the spur of the moment, this exploded into something most of you would probably not imagine... and I'll post chapter two next week.

Hope you enjoyed it... be kind and lead a review at the door. Thanks for reading!

-**Macampos**


	2. Chapter 2

Here be CHAPTER TWO of The SALAD Chronicles. I would like to thank the first two commenters for commenting... feels great to get reviews/comments, especially when one's a newbie here, rofl.

And now, the legal crap:

**DISCLAIMER: **The characters Syaoran, Sakura, Takashi, Chiharu, and Eriol are based LOOSELY off the characters of the same name in the anime/manga Cardcaptor Sakura, and are owned by their authors/artists, CLAMP. The story, plot, and original characters within this fanfiction are owned by me, and me only. (Pm first before using an original character, please).

And now, Chapter Two... I'm sure you're ready to get pass all this and head into the story.

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I put a pillow underneath Syaoran's head, trying to make him as comfortable as possible.

The wound is deep, but his bleeding seems to have stopped. I am glad for this... for a moment, I was afraid that he would...

No! Syaoran is going to be alright. I won't let it happen.

Hiiragizawa-kun put new handcuffs on the boy who had attacked Syaoran-kun, this time making sure to empty the boy's pockets. I put the dagger back on the dish... where Syaoran-kun had taken it from earlier, and bandaged the boy's wrist as best as I could.

I turned back to look at Syaoran-kun... I owed him my life twice, now.

Hiiragizawa-kun replaced his gun in its holster, standing guard over our captive, continuing the book he had started earlier. Yamazaki-kun and Chiharu-chan continued their earlier banter, as Hiiragaziwa-kun spoke:

"Best we leave soon.. probably tomorrow morning, while the rest of the teams are asleep. Hopefully Syaoran will be well enough to walk by then..."

I agreed with him, although I wished Syaoran-kun had more time to sleep... he strained himself too much already.

There was a sound of something being slammed down, coming from where Naoko-chan was manning our radio. She put down the phone in despair, covering her face with her hands.

"What's wrong Naoko-chan?"

"Mom's called me for the eleventh time this week! She's always so overprotective..."

"She's just worried about you..." I began to say, when she yelled:

"ELEVENTH TIME THIS WEEK! Why can't she just leave me alone?..."

I sweatdropped, moving back a few steps. Then she said:

"Sorry for yelling at you, Sakura-chan... just a little tired, that's all." she said this while rubbing her eyes. It _was _pretty late.

Relieved that Naoko had calmed down, I guess she brought up a good point: I wonder how big brother Toya was doing.. and Dad. Did they miss me? Were they worried?

I began thinking about the events that lead up to my signing up on this group, when I noticed Syaoran stirring behind me. As before, his eyes opened slowly, as if they hadn't in a thousand years. I went to him, telling him to relax as before...

Hiiragiziwa-kun coughed, beginning to speak:

"May I have your attention: Tomorrow morning we're heading out, taking the Silver passage through Greensbrook. Once we past that, we should be near the next safe-zone... over the hill." as he said this, he pointed towards a distant green hill on the other side of the ravine. A safe-zone was an area where fighting wasn't allowed... sorta like the "home base" in tag. Syaoran could rest up there.

"What about him?" Yamazaki was pointing at the captive. The boy glared back, as Yamazaki was responsible for the welt on his forehead earlier.

"What IS your problem anyway?" asked Chiharu, prodding the boy with the butt of her rifle. "You've commited two fouls so far: Stabbing Li-kun, and trying to kill Sakura-chan! Where's your team anyway?..."

The boy spat at her, saying as he did so: "Pheh! Team! I do what I want WHEN I want, WHEREVER I want! And besides..." his red eyes gleamed again, It was sorta... creepy. "... would you prefer that I kill you first, _Chiharu-chan_?" he said her name in a mocking voice, smiling devilishly.

Chiharu took a step back, eventually hiding behind Yamazaki comically. Who wouldn't, with those boy's fang-like teeth?

Hiiragizawa stepped forward, smiling as he put a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"With that kind of attitude, you should have no problem with staying out here for awhile..."

The boy attempted to bite his hand, but his razor-sharp teeth instead collided with his own shoulder. Hiiragizawa was too fast.

"Remember, first thing tomorrow morning. I'll take guard duty tonight."

He began to turn out a few lights, dimming one that he used for reading. Although he turned his back to the boy, one could tell that he was keeping constant alert.

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Daybreak. The sun hadn't even gone past the horizon line, and already we were at work.

I began to wrap up the tarp and poles that we used for our makeshift tent despite Sakura asking me to not strain myself. Although the pain still came, I was managing to cope with it...

I can't let myself become a burden.

Once we had cleared the area of any sign of us being there, the boy with the glasses, whose name I still can't seem to remember... moved the captive next to a rock. Placing a small bag of food in front of him, we were beginning to leave when Sakura spoke:

"We can't just leave him like this!"

The whole group turned to look at the captive, who was still bound with his wrists behind him.

"I mean... he did try to kill me, but still, what if he starves like that?"

"I don't need your help, witch!" the boy spat back, having heard Sakura.

The boy with the glasses went to Sakura, saying: "It's the best for all of us, Kinimoto-chan, he'll probably be out of those cuffs in a few minutes if we don't hurry."

Sakura reluctantly agreed, and we continued on. After all, Sakura never liked to leave people behind...

The pain... it shot through my whole body this time, coming from my stomach. It was still in the healing stages, and I guess forcing myself to walk wasn't helping it any. Despite this, I tried my best to not show any pain... I can't give our group an extra burden. In fact, it would've probably been better for them to go on without me, except...

I don't remember how I know, but Sakura would probably not allow it. She would stay by my side till either the other teams caught up with us, that crazy kid killed us, or our team changed their mind and came back.

And so, we continued to trudge on through the ravine towards Greensbrook.

From what I remember... Greensbrook is forested enough that it would slow anyone down, but at the same time, gave us cover from other groups. It would slow down anyone that might be following us.

All the better.

Before we could turn a corner, however, the boy with the glasses stopped us, edging across the wall, pulling out his gun as he did so. I noticed that it was no ordinary weapon... although a revolver, it was noticeably of larger size than an ordinary .45.

He looked around the rock, then signaled us forward, slowly, with his free left hand. We continued on, but then hid behind a couple of large rocks, where he gave further orders;

"Private Yamazaki, there may be another team over that next hedge over there. See if you can... disarm them."

"Time for shooting already? Ok... which reminds me, did I tell you guys about the time my pop..." he started, moving slowly out of the rock barrier and towards nearby shrubbery.

"Oh brother..." said Chiharu, rolling her eyes. She was used Yamazaki's stories, having known him since kindergarten. Nevertheless, she kept faithful watch on Yamazaki as he moved forward.

You know, when I think about it, Yamazaki never seems to lose that smile of his... he only does when he's thinking deeply on something, which is still a rarity. It's amazing how he can stay cheerful no matter what the situation is.

I slid back against the rock wall next to Sakura and Naoko, who I remembered was the girl who ran our communications. I noticed she was wearing earphones... probably listening to the radio.

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I crouched behind the small bushes nearby, and, as they taught us back in military school, began to line up the other team's guys on my sights. You know, I was about to tell them about the time my pop was able to take down five guys surrounding him at the same time without killing them, but I guess that sounds too much like a lie, chuckles.

Chiharu-chan seems to be a little more worried than usual. I wonder what's up? Maybe she's going through a few... girl-problems?

lightbulb

Ah! I heard something about girls going through something called "menopause" or something like that. Perhaps it's just her after all... I wonder what I could do to help? She always liked ice-cream... and the military chef DID teach us how to make them when I asked him during class. I guess I could make some when we reached the village.

And suama. Plenty of that too!

But anyway, where was I... oh yea, disarm the other team.

They haven't noticed us yet... which is good, since they probably would react badly. Good thing they're standing up, all I have to do is to hit their hands... or maybe the guns, then they wouldn't be hurt that badly.

Crosshairs in the center... steady the gun...feel the bullet fly like a dodgeball... right into their...

Blam

Blam

Blam

What... happened... first I heard something like cans bursting from being shaked too much.. and then... It's like when I let go of the swing back in kindergarten... and flew...

Why am I staring at.. the sky? I can't... move. My breath's coming in slower... but I can't feel anything. No pain, nothing seems to be brok...

_"TAKASHI!"_

That... voice... I think it's Chiharu's... she sounds like... she's screaming. I try to speak, but I...I can't. What's wrong with me?

Is she alright? Is...

I suddenly feel so tired...

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Damnit... they got Yamazaki. What was taking him so long to take the shot? And where did those bullets come from? At first, we thought it was coming from him... but as soon as I saw him fly, and, for the first time in awhile, saw him open his eyes... I knew he was hit.

Chiharu yelled when Yamazaki was struck, and she charged forward, to try and help him, as the boy with the glasses yelled: "Private Mihara, No!"

Chiharu screamed, after another volley of missles hit her as well. She lay down next to Yamazaki, her face on the side, facing Yamazaki's seemingly limp body. Blood slowly began to drain from the both of them.

The boy with the glasses drew his revolver, tossing out his hand experimentally and bringing it back. A round just barely missed him, a millisecond longer and he would have had a large hole in his hand. He jumped out, his gun forward, and, squinting, fired a single round.

There was the sound of someone yelping as he was hit, as the boy ducked behind the bushes again. Sakura was about to attend to Chiharu and Yamazaki, but the boy held her back, saying: "We don't know how many of them know our presence. Stay clear for a moment."

He looked out quickly from behind the bush, and, satisfied, began to walk over towards where he had shot. He motioned to Sakura that it was all clear, and she immediately ran to the two lying on the floor.

I walked over, ignoring the pain coming from my torso as I crouched in front of Yamazaki. It was indeed the first time he had his eyes fully open... for years. They were blue... but somewhat pale, and they seemed to be staring out into nothingness.

I knew the sign... either he was unconscious, or...

I assured Sakura that I was fine, and began to help her bandage the two, both of which seemed to be going into a coma. The bullet holes seemed to go over on the other side... there would be no need for surgery. However, we needed to stop the blood flow before they lost too much.

I opened Yamazaki's shirt, and, taking a few towels from Sakura's kit, began pushing it on the wounds. Luckily, the bullets didn't seem to hit anything vital...

Sakura was working fast, tying turnikits in order to seal some of the wounds. We were out in the open... sitting ducks. And Sakura had no training in stitches...

My hands were becoming soaked in blood... I took off Yamazaki's shirt, tying it around his chest. Sakura took out a few gauze pads to help close up the wounds...

It was then that I noticed that when I pushed on Yamazaki's chest, blood came from his lips...

Oh no.

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They can't die now. They can't!

What... What the hell was that guy thinking?!

I have to calm down. Chiharu's wounds seem to be less severe, only one bullet passed through her torso. I'm wrapping both wounds in gauze, and I can only pray... pray that they hold out until we reach the safe-zone.

Chiharu was still conscious. She was trying to speak... trying to talk to Yamazaki. I told her to stay calm, and that she and Yamazaki will be fine...

What I would give for the proper tools to close up these wounds. I'm doing the best I can... but the quartermaster wasn't packing the kits for these kind of wounds. The Rules prevented aiming at the torso, or head...

"Naoko-chan! Help us!" I yelled to Naoko, who had just taken off her earphones. She seemed at first shocked by the sight, but then ran over to us.

"Here... I need you to press down on this, I'm going to get the cauterizer..."

I rummaged through the first-aid kit. I know there was a cauterizer in here somewhere...somehow.

Ah Ha! I found it... it's small, looks kinda like a butane lighter... it's risky, and I wasn't really trained for this, but It's our only chance.

I lit a small flame on the cauterizer, and moved around the ring of an especially large hole on Chiharu's back. The nerves were severed, so I don't think she felt any pain. Within seconds, the blood flow stopped... temporarily.

I quickly closed that wound up with another gauze pad, slightly relieved that Chiharu was, for better, patched up. Syaoran caught my attention by shouting... something bad was happening to Yamazaki.

I went over, and was shocked enough to bring my hand to my mouth; a bullet had passed through Yamazaki's left lung. He was going to choke on his own blood.

There had to be a way to save him... anything.

Those... pale eyes. He stopped breathing. DAMNIT!

Acting quickly, I did the only thing I could do... I took a cork from one of our water bottles and stuck it into him. The hole in the lungs had to be closed, and there was nothing else I could use. I wrapped bandages around it, and, taking my last scrap of gauze, taped it over the other side of the hole. I patched up where the bullet had gone threw the skin, and, getting closer to Yamazaki, started CPR.

Syaoran couldn't do it... he still had that large wound in his chest, and he might exasperate himself if he tried. No one else was around. I had to do it, or Yamazaki would...

As I predicted, he started choking... coughing up a mouthful of blood.

For a moment, he lay still... I was afraid.. that I had failed to save a friend.

But then his breathing began to stabilize. He was drawing ragged gasps, slowly, in and out... we were afraid each new breath would be his last...

I felt pitiful at myself for only being able to do so much..., covering my face with a slightly bloodied hand. Right there, I almost lost two of my best friends...

No. I almost lost three of them. Including Syaoran-kun.

Hiiragizawa-kun came back, dragging a boy with shocking red hair with him. He was cradling a hand wrapped in bandages.

"This one..." he said, throwing the boy down, "... is responsible for firing at Mihara-chan and Yamazaki-kun."

Obviously defeated, the boy made no movement to try and escape or attack. He just sat there, staring at the ground... afraid to meet us face to face.

Part of me was angry... angry at him for nearly costing us our friend's lives. But, looking at this down-trodden face, another part of me felt... sorry... I don't know why, but I couldn't seem to hate him.

"Privat... I mean, Chiharu, and Takashi. Will they live?"

"Ye...yes. But we need to get to town..."

"We shall, today. First, however..."

He gestured to the boy slumped on the ground.

"What have you done? Why did you fire at our two comrades' vitals?"

The boy made no reply.

Suddenly, Syaoran cut in, pulling the boy up by his collar and yelling: "Answer us!"

The boy looked up into Syaoran's face, looking like he was about to say something:

But then, his composure began to crumble. First, tears slowly began welling in his eyes... and a minute later, he looked downward, tears falling rapidly as he wailed.

Syaoran and Hiiragizawa were both surprised and skeptic at this... and yet, for me... it seemed as if... maybe this boy didn't want to do what he did... I wonder if...

"SPEAK DAMNIT!" yelled Syaoran, kicking the boy over. He was about to strike again, when Hiiragizawa stopped him.

The boy sniffled, wiping his face with his sleeve. He mumbled at first... then said: "I...I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to..."

He continued:

"I DIDN'T WANT TO! They... they said that if I didn't follow they're ways, they'd save themselves the trouble and kill me."

"Who's 'they'?" asked Hiiragizawa.

As if in answer, there was the sound of a gun firing... everyone ducked instinctively... but the bullet hit its mark.

The bullet was aimed for the boy's forehead, but because Syaoran pushed him down in ducking, it instead hit the boy's left shoulder. He fell to the ground in pain as Hiiragizawa fired three shots in the direction of where the bullet came from. One of them hit it's mark, giving us a little time to think;

"The forest is close by, we can make a run for it..." said Hiiragizawa.

"But... Chiharu, and Yamazaki!" I said, motioning to the two on the ground floor.

He motioned to the boy, who was clutching his left shoulder... it was only grazed.

"You! If you want to survive for tomorrow... help Syaoran carry one of our comrades. Sakura, Naoko, you two get Chiharu. I'll keep them at bay."

We grabbed our respective people, trying our best to handle them gently as we ran towards the woods. Hiiragizawa fired another round, then began reloading his weapon, continuining to give us cover fire. I ducked as a bullet zinged too close to my head, and, having reached the forest, we jumped in.

I'm not sure how far we ran. The sounds of bullets being fired behind us hit the tree trunks instead, deflecting them. We fought through the underbrush , all the while trying to balance Chiharu and Yamazaki, who were still in bad shape.

Before long, we appeared on the other side of the forest... half-way up the green hill.

Upon reaching the top, however, I felt a sharp pain in my left leg... I noticed blood beginning to dribble from it, the pain increasing. I tripped on something, causing Chiharu to be dropped... in the tumble that occurred, Naoko, an unconscious Chiharu, and I rolled down the hill. The other three followed after us.

We stopped, my face touching a rocky floor, cold and hard, in contrast to the grassy hill.

I don't know what hurt more... the pain in my leg, or slamming my face on the cobblestone floor of the village.

The next thing I realized is that hands... thick, elder ones of age... were carrying me into the town... maybe it was the impact, but something caused me to lose consciousness... everything was beginning to get fuzzy...

A great white light...

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**Author's Notes**: So, there be Chapter 2. How was it? Any comments, concerns? Ask via PM or the review section. For those of you who made it this far, I hope you enjoyed it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Macampos:** So, it seems I'm uploading the third chapter a bit early, eh? No matter, Some of you are pretty eager to read the rest, and so the rest shall come. I'm changing the title to simply the SALAD Chronicles... why? I don't know. The shorter the better I suppose...

Special thanks to rukz, dbzgtfan2004, and Moose-chan for their kind comments, I appreciate it much.

Now, the Disclaimer:

**DISCLAIMER: **The characters Syaoran, Sakura, Takashi, Chiharu, and Eriol are based LOOSELY off the characters of the same name in the anime/manga Cardcaptor Sakura, and are owned by their authors/artists, CLAMP. The story, plot, and original characters within this fanfiction are owned by me, and me only. (Pm first before using an original character, please).

And now, Chapter Three of the Salad Chronicles series...

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A great white light...

Was I back home? Was this all a bad dream?

I opened my eyes, slowly, because the light seemed to be right above me... everything was still blurry, my eyes were trying to adjust...

I tried to move... but I realized that my arms were held down by something... cold... probably metal. I felt the same thing holding down my legs...

I looked around. Sure enough, there were these metal bracelets fastening my arms to the... table I seemed to be on. I tried to move them again in vain... my arms were spread out, side to side, my legs together.

I noticed that I seemed to be in a gown... the same used by patients of a hospital.

The room I was in was white, clean, shiny panels making up the wall.

Although I seemed to be alone, I had an odd feeling... like I was being watched, by jealous eyes...

Indeed, someone appeared out of nowhere, approaching from behind me. I yelled to him, asking him to free me... I couldn't see it, but I could sense that he smirked...

The man was right above me, now. He leaned over, covering the light that was blinding me earlier... he had a mask on, much like the surgeons...

No.

My realization was well-founded when he took a knife from a column, which wasn't there before... The knife was big, and looked worn from use... the "doctor" had refused to wash it from its previous uses.

I couldn't help but watch the knife... he lowered closer, enough that I could see his eyes... they were crimson red, and the light seemed to reflect off them like beads... inhumanly white hair seemed to stem from underneath his mask...

I was overcome with fear. I tried to scream, but no sound would escape my mouth. I struggled against the metal straps in vain. My heartbeat increasingly rose as he brought the knife closer... I shut my eyes, wishing that he would disappear... that this was all a dream... all a dream...

But it felt real. I can feel his hot breath now... the knife touching my skin...

"SOMEONE HELP ME!!!!"

I yelled, swinging my arms around wildly.

My left fist caught something, there was an "oof", and, opening my eyes, there was Syaoran, lying on the ground to the left of the bed I was in.

"Oh.. my... I'm so sorry, Syaoran-kun!"

I apologized profusely, but sure enough, he stood back up, no harm done, other than a small bruise on his left cheek. Turns out he was sitting on a chair next to my bed when I accidentally hit him during the nightmare.

Wait a minute...

"Syaoran-kun, what about your wound?"

I noticed that, unlike myself, he wasn't wearing one of the patient gowns... he was in a white t-shirt and jeans, no bandages in evidence.

"The doctors closed the hole... Yamazaki-kun and Chiharu-chan are sleeping next door."

So... we were safe. For the moment, anyway. I felt greatly relieved by this.

"Are you... alright? One of them managed to shoot you..." he asked.

That pain in my leg... must've been a rifle round. I felt underneath the sheets for my left leg, and, feeling the bandage on it, told him that I was alright.

He believed me... until I tried to stand.

As soon as I put weight on that leg, I seemed to collapse... falling directly into his arms.

I blushed a little, supporting myself with my arms to get myself back on the bed.

I took a quick look around. My helmet was hanging off one of the posts of the bed, my uniform neatly folded on top of the dresser.

Turning back, Syaoran had a concerned look on his face.

"Is... there something wrong?"

He seemed startled by the question, but then replied:

"No, nothing at all..."

He said this as he turned his face in another direction, pretending to examine the wall. I think I glimpsed him blush a little himself...

Syaoran... you haven't changed a bit. I said to myself. He was always so quiet around me... I wonder why?

I still remember how we first met...

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It was a few years ago... before the true fighting between the countries... before my mother...

I was... ten years old at the time. Yamazaki and Chiharu were in my class, along with Naoko. I remember that there used to be a lot of rumors about invasion, but...

For some reason, our parents always tried to hide the rumors from us. When someone confronted them about it, they would shrug it off, or change the topic...

I guess it was some sort of way of protecting us. Some of them probably didn't know what was going on themselves either. Media coverage was few to none... and the teachers seemed to want to inhibit any discussions about it.

But then again, we were kids... war was far from our mind.

They say ignorance is a bliss... and I guess it is... or was.

Strange people began to appear in our country. Different hair, eye, and skin color... different speech, different hobbies...

Different opinions.

Not that it was really a big deal, Yamazaki and Eriol-kun (I think that's Hiiragizawa's first name... I don't call him by that much) were from different countries... we took it as a given.

However, some of the strangest things began to happen:

One day, while moving from class to class, I noticed a group of boys, and a couple of girls, talking with each other. The strange thing was, they were constantly giving everyone these weird looks... They had ash-gray to white hair, and while most had dark-brown eyes, there were a select few that had red ones. They were slightly tanned.

I guess the trouble first started when I noticed on the way into school that they were pointing at me... They turned around as soon as I looked back, but sometimes I would catch a girl glaring at me or one of the boys smirking. I tried not to think much of it...

During gym, though, I noticed that for some reason... all the boys of that group liked to pick me as the target for dodgeball. As before, I just took it as a given... maybe it was just a coincidence? Or maybe I was just always open?

Why didn't I see anything here when I got a ball planted into my face over six times by four different people?

I began to realize something was up when during cheerleading practice with the batons, I could've sworn... one of the gray-white haired girls, after catching her baton as it fell down, swung it at me... hitting me squarely on the head. It hurt pretty badly... although she claimed that it was an accident from "getting too into the practice".

That day at lunch, I told Tomoyo and the others about my experiences.

Tomoyo... She's my best friend, we've known each other since... probably since we were born. Her mom owns a technologies company... yet, she's still pretty nice, not snobby like some of the other kids.

As expected, they reacted pretty badly to what I told them:

"Sakura, don't you think you should... tell sensei?"

"Huh?"

"If these guys really are picking on you, you should at least give one of the teachers the heads up..."

"Nah... maybe I just have bad luck... or something."

The strange group's antics earlier and these "accidents" couldn't have been connected... it was too strange.

For me back then, anyways.

The next day, while rollerblading to school, I noticed the same group of guys and girls, except this time standing in a corner between a park, and the walls to the elementary school.

Or, more so, I ran into them: One of the guys had stuck his arm out at the last second, causing me to rollerblade into his arm; he grasped me in a bear hug and threw me into the center of the group.

The group surrounded me... I could feel about ten or twelve, _hungry _pairs of eyes watching my every move, as I stood up at the center of the crowd.

I gulped, speaking to whom I guess was the leader: "What... what do you want with me?"

As if these were the magic words, the leader spoke with someone next to him, and swiftly ran up to me, launched a fist at my face and sent me sprawling into a tree trunk before I knew what was happening.

I rubbed the cheek he had punched, while he said: "It's not what we want _with _you... we just want _you _period."

On cue, the others in the group moved in.

One attempted to punch me, but I managed to dodge it, his fist flying into the tree trunk. He cursed vehemently as he removed twigs from his hand... he was the most vulgar in the group.

Then, it began to go downhill...

A girl ran up to me, grabbed me by the hair, and knee'ed me straight in the stomach. I staggered, covering my stomach in pain, when another ran behind me and, with a kick, sent me face first into the grass. He grabbed my arms, taking a piece of rope and tying them up behind me...

And that's when the torture began. They fired one blow after another... from grabbing my hair and ramming my head into the nearby wall, to grabbing any nearby item; rocks, bookbags, sticks... and smashing, bashing, poking me to bits. I didn't know why they were doing it... I couldn't understand what I had possibly did wrong to deserve such punishment...I yelled in pain from the agony they were so easily giving me, and it only made them hit harder, faster. The vulgar boy laughed as when I was sent to the ground, he wasted no time in stomping on my undefended back and hands. At times, one of them would hold me in place as the others took turns using me as a punching bag. My struggles to get free were only met with more, harder attacks.

Finally, the leader, grabbing me by the hair one last time, ran me back first into a wall. I was heaving... trying to both hold back tears and stay alive... bruises, cuts, scrapes, welts covered my body... clothes and hair in disarray.

The leader told me: "We're done with you... for today. And if you even THINK of telling sensei... either you, or one of your pitiful friends will face something far worse than what you've experienced today. Clear?"

I tried to nod... I had lost my voice after the rampage, and from screaming so much.

He threw me back onto the sidewalk, throwing my backpack onto my broken frame.

I struggled to stand, and, under the sheer weight put upon me by the attacks, and my backpack, I dragged myself inside the doors of the school... a few minutes late.

I was in terrible shape. It was impossible for my friends to NOT notice anything. But no. I couldn't them face any pain for my sake. I would have to deal with it...

But what did they mean by...

No...

The next day, I attempted to get to school early, probably even throw in a shortcut or two to escape the gang's hands. I failed.

One of the girls grabbed me by the bookbag from behind, throwing me into a tree.

"So... attempting to escape the ritual today, huh?" she said, in a none too friendly tone at that.

"Leader's... busy today... but I'm sure he won't mind if I give you a few extra... I don't know.. face plants, just for good measure?"

Finishing that statement, the torturing began.

I managed to drag myself back into the school, barely alive... I felt like I could die (or wanted to die) at any moment...

But the punishing didn't end there. It lasted, for a full school week. The worse was attempting to hide it from everyone at home. I attempted to wash my face, or maybe fix my hair a bit as I got home, but that didn't cover the cuts, or the swellings. I managed to persuade Mom and Dad that it was the result of a few accidents in soccer, but brother Toya never believed it. He knew... knew that there was something going on that he should've known about.

But I couldn't tell them... for their sake.

By the fourth day, shambling once again into class, Yamazaki had had enough. He, along with Chiharu, Naoko, and Tomoyo couldn't stand to see me in such a state. I begged them not to worry about it... I'll live... but Yamazaki stood up during lunch and hailed the gang anyway.

"Hello... uh, excuse me?"

He said, walking over to where the said group met.

One of the more burly members of the gang stood up, easily a foot or two taller than Yamazaki. Cheerful as ever, he apparently failed to notice the muscle differentiation as well.

"You see, Sakura-chan's been taking too much hurt from you guys, and I was wondering..." he said, in his usual casual, kind manner.

The thug raised an eyebrow.

"...if you would... stop?"

It took only a split second for the thug's fist to collide with Yamazaki's face. He flew backward, crashing into the cafeteria table behind him. There was a cracking noise... from bone or metal, I had no clue...

We rose up, running to our fallen friend... Chiharu was next to approach the group.

"You..." she started, her anger growing in her voice: "You... The nerve of you all, pushing others around like this? Just who the hell do you think you are? What right do y.."

"Shut up, or you're next, #$$."

This was the vulgar one, but Chiharu held her ground.

"I can't let you hurt anymore people, Damnit!"

Some of the thugs raised eyebrows, then began to draw straws. One of the girls stood up, having gotten the longest straw. She carried with her a knife, a fork, and a plastic tray.

Before she could reach Chiharu, however, the bell rang... it was time for faculty lunch.

I knew what she was going to do... if it wasn't already obvious. And I knew what I must do...

Day the fifth, Friday. Normally I would be ecstatic about the end of the week, but something heavier was on my mind.

As I approached the usual route to school, the group stopped me, as usual, this time encircling me outside the park. I didn't look down. Nothing would shake my resolve.

"Get in there."

"No."

A murmur ran throughout the group, which I noticed must've taken on new members recently.

"Get into the park, damnit."

"I said no!"

The leader approached, but I stood my ground.

"I'm tired of you threatening and hurting myself, and my friends! I'm alerting sensei... and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

The leader smiled, a smile filled with satisfaction.

"_Au contraire_, Sakura-chan." he said, grabbing me forcibly by the hair and dragging me into the park. He rammed me into a tree, head first, had a few of the thugs beat me up for a few minutes, then rammed the back of my head into the tree again. But there was something different... a satisfaction in each of their faces that was much different than before.

To my horror, each of the gang members began to unveil some weapon; from knives to carving tools to a saw, one took out a threatening looking weapon with electricity brimming from it, others nunchuks, a broken wine bottle...

He pushed me down to my knees, diving my face into the grass as he had done four other times that week.

"Cara, will you do the honors?" he said to a nearby girl. She proceeded to tie up my hands behind me with the same rope from earlier.

He coughed, then:

"Kill her... but be sure to cause as much _pain _as possible in doing so. Do not strike at her head unless you have something to pummel it with..." at this, someone took out a metal baseball bat, "... excellent."

He took out a switchblade, raising my head up momentarily and putting it to my neck... it drew blood.

"I hope you've spent your last day... yesterday, well, Kinimoto-san."

He pushed my face back into the ground... tears that I once held back burst forth onto the ground.

Mom... Dad... Brother Toya... Tomoyo... Yamazaki... Chiharu, and Naoko...

I never was able to give them a farewell before I reached this stage. I'm not even sure what will happen to them after I die...

What have I done...

"Alright, on the count of three... do what you wish."

Mother... Father... Toya-chan...

"One..."

I... I love you...

"Two.."

Guys... I'll miss you all...

"Thre--AGH!"

I heard the sound of something hitting the leader in mid sentence, a great WHUMP. What had happened?

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A boy appeared from nowhere, launching a flying kick at the gang leader's face right as he said "Three". He flew from where he stood above Sakura, his gang-members gawking in awe, as he crashed back onto the tree that he had rammed Sakura's face into so many times.

He was too dazed to say anything, although the vulgar one replied:

"Who the $$ are you?"

The boy simply stood his ground... school uniform, light brown hair, and dark-brown eyes of sternness.

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**Author's Notes:** Yahahahah... a cliff hanger. And right as Sakura was about to die, too... Who could that kid be, I wonder? (But then, It should be obvious, no?)

As before, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, and please, if possible, leave a review or a comment or two. That's what keeps authors alive in this day and age...


	4. Chapter 4 Flashback II

Here be Chapter Three... a little late, my bad.

As before, I would like to thank those who gave reviews, and yes, I understand that the story is a little confusing at first. All I can say is... many of the things will be explained in due time.

**DISCLAIMER: **The characters Syaoran, Sakura, Takashi, Chiharu, and Eriol are based LOOSELY off the characters of the same name in the anime/manga Cardcaptor Sakura, and are owned by their authors/artists, CLAMP. The story, plot, and original characters within this fanfiction are owned by me, and me only. (Pm first before using an original character, please). Or you'll get eaten.

**Note**: The POV in this chapter (minus the first section) is entirely Sakura's, just to let you know. Also, this is a continuation of the Flashback from Chapter 3, Sakura's remembrance of how she first met Syaoran:

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"Who the $$ are you?"

The boy simply stood his ground... school uniform, light brown hair, and dark-brown eyes of sternness.

The gang was still reeling from the sight of their leader being sent into a tree, some of the members running to him as he collided. He was unconscious, with an admiringly large bruise in the shape of a shoe on his face.

The boy looked over the scene, apparently not noticing the awkwardness he had created.

He noticed Cara, still standing over Sakura, prepared to begin stabbing her to death a pocket knife she had pulled out.

"Let her go."

"What was that punk?" yelled one of thugs, who was brandishing a long steak knife. He must be hearing things... did some random kid just tell them to let go of their prize so easily?

"I said let the girl go."

This second statement seemed to awaken the others out of their panic of seeing their leader fall. Contemplating what the boy had said, they began to laugh, one by one, until some of them began to clutch their stomachs in pain from laughing too hard.

Seriously, did that kid just order us to let Sakura go?

What an idiot... this guy has galls, alright.

The boy stepped forward, obvious anger rising in his voice:

"Let her go!"

As they had done to Sakura, the gang members began to surround him from behind, enclosing the boy in a circle.

Bad move... thought many of the gang members. This one had guts, but it seemed they would be having... more _fun _this morning.

The guy with the steak knife charged forward, eyes wide open, mouth and lips dragging in the air, teeth bared, his weapon forward, aiming for the boy's heart. He looked very much like a vicious wolf, already drunk with delight as he charged at a potential meal...

In a smooth action, the boy kicked the thug's outstretched hand with his left leg down, bringing the other foot up and connecting it with the thug's face. He lay sprawling on the ground to the left of where he was charging from within seconds.

This led to astounded gasps... the kid hadn't even broken a sweat in doing it, taking out one of their own in only one move.

"KILL HIM!"

The entire group converged on the boy, weapons in evidence.

Immediately, the boy dodged to the right as another thug lunged at him with a dagger, instead thrusting it into a tree trunk. Grabbing the thug's arm with his left, the boy first punched the thug's face, sidekicked him in the stomach, and finally sent a kick into the thug's jaw, sending him landing a few feet away, the dagger still stuck in the tree.

Three others came in closer, attempting to stick him between a tree and a very hard place... he dropped to the ground, sweep kicked out from underneath all of them, and ran on top of them to the other side of the small clearing.

The gang members continued to chase him, till he jumped off another tree and sidekicked a girl who got too close. Two of the members got on either side of him, the one behind him carrying a metal pipe and the one in front carrying a tazer. The two rushed forward, he managed to dodge both attacks by inverting himself between the two of them, causing the tazer to crash into the other's chest, zapping him comically. The metal pipe WHAMMED into the other's forehead. Ouch.

Another came up from behind the boy, swinging his nunchucks perfectly at the boy's face, but he put his arms out in front, blocking the swing, grabbed the other end of the nunchuks with his left arm, used the chain to pull the thug closer, while forwarding another punch into the guys face. He easily let go of the weapon.

Someone with a chef knife tried to get the boy with an overhead swing, sending the large blade to possibly make contact with the boy's forehead... an instant kill. The boy spread out the nunchuks in front of his head, causing the blade to CLINK one the metal chain. The boy pushed away the thug's arm with a swift kick with his right leg, then, crouching down, sent his left leg into the other's stomach, making him fly a few feet back from the impact.

He turned to meet the rest of the standing members, holding out the nunchuks, which then disintegrated in his hands, the chain braking apart.

A girl charged forward, holding two knives, slashing twice, the boy moving backwards in sequence. Finally, getting close to him, she sliced upward, managing to slice part of his uniform.

Apparently satisfied, the girl tried to get closer, but only stepped a few inches when she blocked with the knives as the boy retaliated, kicking at her face. As soon as he touched ground, he lashed out with the other leg at her undefended stomach, which caused her arms to fall in tune with the pain... her face was next.

A red shoe mark across her face as well, she lay sprawled on the ground , some of the gang members stopping their places in shock and awe;

Wha... what the hell? He's too fast, even for Mimi... He thought to himself as the boy executed a perfect three kick combo on someone who had tried to get behind him, kicking the guy's groin, stomach, and finally, a hard side kick to the face, making him fly about a meter away from where he was earlier. The guy with the baseball bat swung downward, right, left, then sideways, but the boy slid to the ground, kicking diagonally upwards at the thug's jaw.

To those watching rather than getting into the fight, the boy's movements were all fluid... his reaction time was... inhuman. No one could freaking fight like that!

Well, no one except...

One of the thugs charged forward with a wicked grin, bloodlust in his eyes, as he began throwing out punches like no tomorrow. The boy blocked several of them, just barely dodged one which was aimed for his face, got in a few kicks, but they were all blocked as well. The boy ran up a tree a few feet, jumping off the branches and attempted to down kick the attacker, but missed and instead found himself dodging more of the attacks punches, accidentally slipping and falling off the branch, landing into a crouching position and jumping backwards.

The other followed after him, by this time those remaining chose to watch and avoid injuries themselves, as their obvious best rose from the ground:

His mouth was foaming, his eyes suddenly slitting like those of a reptile... but then changing back instantly. This startled the boy as he charged forward, back arched, teeth out and bared, in a fighting style that was completely unorthodox and very... beast like. The thug sent another punch into the boy's face, the boy blocked it, but at that moment, the thug grabbed his arm forcibly, swooped his other arm in behind the boy's torso, brought him in closer, lunged his teeth into the boy's shoulder...

It was a very awkward position, to say the least. The thug chewed bit through the boy's uniform, hitting and tearing open skin in the process. His mouth firmly clamped down, the boy couldn't escape...wincing in pain and a little shocked at what had just occurred. The thug quickly landed several punches into the boy's stomach, which he tried to block to no avail... there was no escaping the thug's mouth lock either.

For the first time during the fight, the boy began to fear... but only for a second. That second was all it took for the beast to make his attempt at a possibly tastier morsel... the boy's neck.

His choppers let go of the boy's shoulder, instead aiming for his neck, a couple inches nearby. One bite, and hard enough, and it should end his life, and the match.

Instead, the boy brought up his right fist, sent his right should back, and sent it forward with his fist curled upward, in a great palm bomb straight into the thug's jaw. While the thug was reeling, he roundhoused the thug's face with his left foot and as his left foot landed on the ground, turned, and finalized his attack with a spinning side kick with his right foot into the thug's chest.

You could almost hear his sternum fracturing.

The thug flew... literally, this time, about three yards... away from the battle. The boy took a short moment to clutch his left shoulder with his right arm, and the little blood that began to come from it. The others stared in stark horror, but, remembering their mission, they too charged forward.

The fight ended with only five more kicks to the head.

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The small clearing was filled with bodies, red shoe marks and welts in every one of them. Sakura was still lying face first in the ground, not knowing what had just occurred... all she heard was the sounds of "Umph" and crack among other noises of human pain and anguish, along with more whumps.

The boy walked over to her, and, seeing the knife still plunged in the tree trunk, he pulled it out... brought it to Sakura's bonds, and sliced through the rope.

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What... what just happened? What were all those noises, and..

My...wrists, they're unbound. But why...

I raised my head a little off the ground... the bodies of the gang were scattered all over the clearing, and as I rose, there was a boy kneeling with one leg on the ground in front of me, extending an arm.

He had light brown hair.. much like I do, and brown eyes. Although his uniform was a little messed up, and he had a few bruises himself, he had a smile... he asked me...

"Are you alright?"

I guess I was better off than I would've been, even though I was a wreck. I guess he knew the answer, as he helped me get up off the ground. I noticed that there was what looked like a bite mark on his right shoulder... no doubt the work of the gang, but...

He..

He took them all out...

I didn't know what to say, he... he saved me. All I could put out... was...

"Thank... Thank you."

He smiled, saying:

"School's going to start in a few minutes, I think you'd better go..."

I nodded, and, picking up my bookbag, I began to move towards the entrance of the school...

I didn't get very far. He caught me as I nearly collapsed from the wounds and the weight of my backpack... And, slowly, he helped to bring me inside the walls, the building, and to the nearby nurse's office.

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I was walking back to class... it still hurt a bit to walk, and a little hard... the nurse had a field day covering me with bandages. She couldn't understand how soccer could cause so many injuries.

"You should take a break from sports for awhile, Sakura. It might kill you." she said, jokingly.

I nodded that it might be a good idea, and began walking back the long hallways to class.

On the way there, I stopped, noticing that the same boy was in Mitsubishi-sensei's office. On the other side of sensei's desk was most of the gang that tried to kill me earlier.

Sensei looked angry... he began to speak:

"Li-san. You are a new resident at our school, and already you're causing trouble..."

Trouble...

Those eyes in the gang members...They couldn't have...

"I'm not sure what the regulations are in your home country, but realize that fighting and severely injuring your fellow classmates is strictly prohibited here, and is punishable by harsh penalties."

No...

"I understand, Mitsubishi-sama... and I accept full responsibility for my actions."

"Well, then..."

No. He... he can't take this! Not after he...

I stamped into the office, even though it caused the pain I was already feeling to double.

Mitsubishi-sama moved his eyeglasses a bit, then said:

"Kinimoto-san? What brings you here... and what caused all of your..."

"Mitsubishi-sama, he wasn't responsible for... for this..." I started. The gang members began to glare at me, but I continued:

"... they... they were trying to kill me. For the past five days now, they've been... torturing me, every morning. Ask Tenna-sensei. She's seen my bruises."

I continued on, even as the glares worsened, those creepy black and crimson eyes attempting to stare me down:

"They... were about to kill me this morning, for threatening to tell you... I didn't say anything because they threatened to kill my friends If I did. Then, he showed up..."

I swallowed, then said,

"... he saved my life."

The vulgar boy, having lost control of himself, yelled:

"YOU #$#! I'll #$ KILL YOU!"

He realized the consequence of what he had just said directly after the fact. Mitsubishi-sama raised an eyebrow.

"I… see… You may go now, Kinimoto-san and Li-San."

We turned to leave, and as Mitsubishi-sama closed the door, I noticed the group begin to glare at the vulger one.

They would have a field day with him.

Once outside, the boy turned to me, saying:

"You... didn't have to do that. My cla... parents move around frequently, so it was probably for the best."

"I couldn't let them make you responsible for all this..."

I began, stopping. I continued:

"... and besides, you saved me... they would've found a way to avoid punishment, and might have gone after me again, or even you!"

I breathed, then:

"I... wanted a way to thank you... I don't even know your name..."

He thought for a moment, then:

"My name is... Syaoran."

Syaoran... that was a cute name..

"My name is Sakura. Sakura Kinimoto."

Silence... then:

"I know! How about I make you a lunch... meet me at the cafeteria?"

He seemed a little taken a back by this.

"Uh... sure."

"Pinky swear!"

I held out my pinky finger, and he took it, blushing a little... but then, he smiled, taking in my hand with his other. I attempted to hold back a blush myself.

"...Pinky swear..." he replied, right as the bell for homeroom rang. I began to run down the hall, but not without first turning around and waving back to him.

Syaoran...what a nice name...

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Author's Notes: Well, how was it? Still confused? Feel free to tell me so... please specify what confused you, however, and I shall be happy to explain it to the best of my ability.

Syaoran "Little Bear" in Chinese and Japanese.


	5. Chapter 5 Flashback III

Here be Chapter Five! Thanks for being patient guys!

**DISCLAIMER: **The characters Syaoran, Sakura, Takashi, Chiharu, and Eriol are based LOOSELY off the characters of the same name in the anime/manga Cardcaptor Sakura, and are owned by their authors/artists, CLAMP. The story, plot, and original characters within this fanfiction are owned by me, and me only. (Pm first before using an original character, please).

Chapter Five: Flashback III

Note: POV's added to reduce confusion.

(Sakura's POV)

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Syaoran continued to stare at the wall while I tried to get up from the bed again. As before, a thin pain coursed through my left leg... I couldn't put any weight on it.

Noticing this, Syaoran turned to me, saying:

"The nurse probably has some crutches... I'll get you a pair."

He turned to leave, asking me to wait for a while, and not to aggravate my leg any further. As he reached the door, he turned to look at me once more, still concerned, and then left.

That was nice of him...

I noticed that there wasn't much light coming through the blinds next to my bed. Curious, I opened the curtains...

The hospital was two stories tall... simple thatch and wood buildings dotted the outside, people running to and fro between buildings. The green hill loomed next to the village, casting a shadow over it.

Looking up, the clouds were thick and grey... the light began to dwindle, and, sure enough, there was a roll of thunder, as it began to rain once again.

It began lightly as first, eventually going from simply sprinkling to pouring, the townspeople reaching their homes just in time... closing the doors as the storm engulfed the town completely. A few raindrops hit the window from where I was viewing the scene, but not many, for the clay roof went over the glass, streams of rain creating miniature waterfalls from it.

Strange... It has been raining a lot recently...

I heard the door opening behind me, Syaoran having returned with two crutches. Gingerly, he helped me onto them. It... kinda took me a minute or two to get the hang of it, Syaoran having to catch me again when I tripped on my own foot and nearly fell. Once I got the hang of it, we walked towards the door, Syaoran taking quick glances at me every so often to make sure I didn't trip again.

As we entered the hallway, I noticed that Syaoran was holding his stomach...

"Syaoran-kun, didn't they...?" I said, gesturing to where his wound was.

"They closed the hole, but it'll still take a while for it to heal completely."

"But then..."

He mollified my fears, saying: "It's not that bad...I can handle it."

Syaoran opened the door where Chiharu and Yamazaki were staying, and he seemed slightly stunned by what he saw. I walked in with my crutches, looking up:

Yamazaki-kun, having seen us, literally leaped off Chiharu's bed that he was sitting on earlier, and ran to us. He had the usual ever-cheerful smile that he always had, but...

How the heck!? He was shot through the torso three times, one through his lung... he nearly died, not to mention losing so much blood...

"Sakura-chan! Syaoran-kun! You're alright!"

Syaoran must've been as shocked as I was... all we could do was nod slightly in reply.

"Yamazaki-kun... shouldn't you be in bed? With those wounds?"

Yamazaki took one look about his person, then said: "What wounds?"

Indeed, he didn't seem to show any sign of getting hurt in the first place. He was wearing a patient's robe, yes, and yet here he was... running around the room in an attempt to burn off excess energy.

I could only stare in amazement at this feat... I think Syaoran sweatdropped. After he had said those words, the next thing I knew was that my face somehow made contact with the floor once again...

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(Syaoran's POV)

What... the heck?

THUMP

I broke out of the trance for a moment, realizing that Sakura had fallen to the ground. Yamazaki and I helped her back up, replacing the crutches underneath her arms. Meanwhile, Yamazaki didn't seem to show any sign of... anything. He seemed perfectly normal... no limps, no problems in breathing...

He glanced at me, and, as if reading my mind, said:

"I think the doctors operated on me while I was asleep... but I'm fine now." he said, as he brought Sakura a chair to sit on from a nearby desk.

That still didn't answer why, or how it was possible... that he was completely healed already. Or maybe he was just shouldering the pain, like I did often.

Or maybe...

Chiharu, still asleep until recently, yawned as she stretched her arms. Rubbing her eyes, she noticed Sakura next to her, saying:

"yawn Hey Sakura-chan... what's up?"

Sakura and I were watching Yamazaki, who began running around the room once again. He was cartwheeling around Chiharu's bed at the moment, jumping onto his own bed and executing a handstand on one of the posts in front of it.

She noticed Yamazaki-kun running around, yet didn't seem too surprised. She said to a still stunned Sakura: "He's just getting exercise..."

That didn't seem to assuage Sakura. Nor I, for that matter.

Then again, I guess it made sense... back in grade school he was one of the better players...

Kinda reminds me of when he invited me to a game of dodgeball in the fourth grade...

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(FLASHBACK: Syaoran's POV)

"Hey, Li-kun..." said Yamazaki, approaching me near the end of lunch.

"You want to play a game of dodgeball? It's fun..."

"Dodgeball?" I answered.

"Yea, I'll show you..."

As my classmates began to run out of the school's cafeteria, Yamazaki led me to a section of the playground with a single white line in the center of a small court. On either side were assortments of balls, all red colored. He gestured to them:

"An even number of players start on each side, and the object of the game is to hit the other player with one of the balls. Once you get hit, you're out of the game. If it hits the ground or the wall first though, it doesn't count."

The game looked interesting enough...

I felt stares coming from behind me, and, turning, some of the other guys were pointing at us, saying something. At first I couldn't understand why, but for some reason when they looked at Yamazaki and the court, they looked worried...

Sakura and the others came up to the court, standing a clear five feet away from it, watching us.

"So... want to play?"

I took another look at the small court, and agreed, taking my place at the opposite end of where Yamazaki stood. I didn't sense anything... no menace, no danger... he kept the same smile as always, saying: "Good luck" as he took his place a few feet behind the line, grabbing a ball. I did likewise...

So, the object was to hit him once, right? Should be easy enough...

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(Chiharu's POV)

Oh dear. Takashi challenged yet another newbie.

Sakura, as dense as always, didn't seem to see anything wrong with the matchup... the new kid versus Takashi. Then again, I guess she hadn't heard the stories either...

"What's wrong Chiharu-chan?" she asked me. I was more than willing to explain the situation to her.

"Sakura-chan... Taka... I mean, Yamazaki-kun is the best dodgeball player in the _whole school." _I said, letting that sink in a bit. I continued:

"No one can beat him. Even in gym class. There was this one time when five guys tried to sneak up on him from the top of the jungle gym... Yamazaki dodged them all. He was too fast. That, and he quickly picked up the balls _as they hit the ground_ and took them out, one by one..."

I recalled that event... It was kinda funny, in a way, but at the same time sorta mysterious... It was near the end of recess, so I was calling Takashi back to class. He was hanging around the jungle gym, and happened to turn his back to it as he heard me. Five kids... all of which he had bested earlier in gym class, were trying to get their revenge on him by sneak attacking him from behind.

Except, something weird happened... when the first guy threw his ball, it was almost as if Takashi had known they were coming... he ducked, sliding to the ground, grabbed the ball as it bounced off the pavement, and threw it back, getting the boy dead in the face. The others fired theirs after that, but he did the same thing... duck, dodge, throw, repeat.

I could only stare in a sort of shock... my head nodding to the right unconsciously from the display... Takashi then ran to the boys, having fallen off the jungle gym, to see if they were alright. The boys simply ran off, Takashi not seeming to notice anything out of the ordinary with what had just occurred.

Having finished expressing to Sakura about just how dire the new kid's position was, I ended up leaving her in a sorta... worried state. She turned to the court, possibly unsure of what to expect.

There was a sort of satisfaction in making her worry like that... I don't know why. I guess the way I... what's the word..._embellished_ the details a bit was kinda satisfying... Then again, Takashi really did all those things, and there was no doubt in my mind that the new kid would lose, as so many before him have, badly.

"Go Yamazaki-kun!" I yelled, as the boys began the game. Yep, no one could beat him at his own game...

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(Syaoran's POV)

The game started, Yamazaki being the first to launch a ball. It was aimed directly for my head... and it was low, too. Had to literally fall to the ground to dodge it. I swung my arm back and, letting go, let loose my own ball, which he managed to dodge by diving to the right.

We raced to walls of each side, grabbing another ball and letting loose another volley at each other, both of us dodging these as well. Yamazaki grabbed two, throwing one after another after he arched his back, barely dodging the second ball I had thrown. The two balls he had thrown were at slightly different directions, so I had to had to move sideways to avoid the first one, quickly moving my head out of the way to avoid the second.

We kept at this, firing ball after ball, no clear victor in sight. I began to sweat a little, but kept up the pace, matching his volleys with mine. His smile never faded... in fact, he seemed to be enjoying himself a lot...

Diving towards a group of four balls, I threw three in succession, which, by moving his legs and his head quickly, he managed to dodge. One came within a centimeter of his ear.

"Whooh, Li-kun, you're good!" he said, returning fire with two of the balls I had thrown earlier. He didn't seem to lose energy either... going at the same pace, and sometimes moving faster than before.

Rushing to the center, we both grabbed a ball and, at the same time, launched them at each other... the two balls collided in mid-air, bouncing back at us.

Yamazaki thought for a moment... I stopped for a moment too, quickly catching my breath, and then we began attacking each other again.

The battle felt like it lasted for hours... but it couldn't have been, recess was only about half an hour long. Yamazaki tried to trick me by throwing one ball straight forward, which I dodged easily, but then threw the second ball at where my head would've been as I ducked... I held back early enough to avoid being hit.

Yamazaki threw a series of six balls, one after the other along the wall, which I cartwheeled in order to avoid. Landing next to another pile of them, I returned fire as well, sending him on the retreat to the other side.

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(Sakura's POV)

Chiharu and I were shocked... Li-kun hadn't even played this game before... and Yamazaki was the best player...

And yet, they were still at it.

I flinched as Yamazaki threw a ball that hit the wall directly over Li-kun's head... it scraped his hair, but didn't count as a hit. He threw balls back at Yamazaki, but he dodged them also...

The game was seeming to go on for hours. Even Chiharu seemed to be worried about who would win.

Yamazaki-kun threw one another ball, which nearly hit Li-kun on his left side... an inch from his right arm, and a hair from his chest. Li-kun grabbed a ball, making a running charge towards the mid-line towards Yamazaki-kun. Yamazaki-kun let loose three more balls, straight forward, which Li managed to dodge barely as he ducked the first one, dodged to the left to miss the second, then to the right to dodge the one coming at his face. He then pulled his right arm back, lobbing the dodgeball straight forward as he hit the median.

Yamazaki-kun looked startled... something I've never seen him do before... as the ball flew directly at his face... He was about to dodge it, but I guess... didn't react fast enough.

WHAM

The ball sunk into his face... he fell to the ground.

...Li-kun... he beat Yamazaki... at his own game.

Chiharu was equally (if not even more) shocked.

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(Syaoran's POV)

I fell forward to the ground, catching myself in a half-kneeling position. The ball, after meeting its target, bounced away amid the stares...

I... I did it! I got him!...

In the face...and he's not moving...

Crap.

I ran to where Yamazaki lay, asking him if he was alright and apologizing profusely...He simply sat up, and didn't seem to notice that his face was red from the impact.

His smile hadn't change.

In fact, he began to laugh.

"Wow... I've never been beaten before... good game Li-kun."

I asked again if he was alright... he said he was fine, and that was a good game we had just finished playing. Chiharu ran up to him, repeating the same question over and over... Sakura and the others did so as well. I began to notice that, once again people were staring at us... apparently most of the boys were staring at me in disbelief at what had happened...

Yamazaki stood, simply brushing himself off. He didn't seem angry... in fact, he seemed a little relieved at having been beaten. He held out his hand to me, saying: "Good game."

I took it, reluctantly, telling him "Good game" as well. One thing's for sure, I haven't played anything of that... caliber before. For some reason, Chiharu was still worried about Yamazaki after the incident, as if he was mortally injured and Yamazaki didn't notice. He was kinda... strange like that...

But then again, I suppose in that way he's sorta like me...

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**Author's notes:** So, how was it? My fateful readers, you know the drill... leave a nice review at the door!

Questions, comments, concerns? Feel free to email me.


	6. Chapter 6

**And here be Chapter 6! I would like to thank everyone for reading this far... I certainly had fun making this half/fanfiction, to begin with.**

**As before, please Read And Review! **

**DISCLAIMER: **The characters Syaoran, Sakura, Takashi, Chiharu, and Eriol are based LOOSELY off the characters of the same name in the anime/manga Cardcaptor Sakura, and are owned by their authors/artists, CLAMP. The story, plot, and original characters within this fanfiction are owned by me, and me only. (Pm first before using an original character, please).

(POV enabled)

(Syaoran's POV)

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Yamazaki, having gotten his fill of exercise, sat down at one of the seats next to the window.

The boy from yesterday was there, sitting across from him, staring out into the endless rainfall outside.

The door behind us opened, and a hooded figure in a dripping jacket appeared in the doorway. It was Hiiragizawa, as we figured when he removed the jacket, hanging it on a nearby coat stand. He looked up as he did so, saying:

"So... everyone's alright, I take it?"

He noticed Sakura's crutches and the fact that Chiharu was still bedridden. Striding over to each of them, he checked to make sure they were alright. He went to me next, asking about my belly wound. I would live on... As for Yamazaki, he was self-explanatory.

He strode over to the boy at the window, apparently oblivious to all that was going on around him. Approaching him from behind, Hiiragizawa asked:

"So... who were 'they'?"

The boy turned around slowly. His hair was bright red; he had light pink eyes and red "apple" cheeks. Despite Hiiragizawa's nice demeanor, the boy still seemed fearful, afraid to look at Hiiragizawa eye to eye.

When I think about it, I was probably too harsh on the boy... in fact, he seemed to be no older than twelve.

Possibly realizing that Hiiragizawa and the rest of us meant him no harm, he began to speak... almost into thin air...

"We camped out in the hills far west... Tom heard a sound... they got him first..." he seemed to be talking to the ground...

"... the noise... they surrounded us, began to kill everyone one by one... Elaine tried to pro.. protect me..." he began to stumble... I could see the vestiges of tears beginning to appear in his down shadowed face.

"... I...I was too afraid to do anything. I thought they would kill me too, but... they spared me. I don't know why. They forced me to come with them, and when they saw you coming, they ma...made me try to kill...ulp." he swallowed, hard...

"...made me try to kill you... said that they would cut my throat if I didn't."

Apparently finished, the boy continued to stare at the ground. Hiiragizawa whispered something to him, when Yamazaki jumped off the bed and ran up to the boy, saying:

"Cheer up, you didn't kill us and you're not dead. Besides, it wasn't that big of a deal anyway..."

"Easy enough for you to say..." whispered Chiharu, still rubbing her eyes.

"...now, what did you say your name was?"

The boy didn't give an answer for a moment, then he said:

"I... I don't know."

For once, Yamazaki looked confused.

"You don't know?"

The boy shook his head. "I... don't even remember who my real parents were. All I remember... is that I kept switching families since I was... two..."

God... the poor kid...

Yamazaki seemed to scrutinize the boy's facial features, before he stood up, saying:

"We'll give you a name then. How's this sound... You're name will be..."

He paused for effect,

"...Mohji!"

What the heck?! Mohji!? A sweet dessert roll?

I was stunned by the answer. Sakura nearly fell off her chair. Chiharu sank back into the pillow, saying as she did so, "Oh Takashi..."

Hiiragizawa raised an eyebrow.

"Mohji?"

"Yea, Mohji! Your head is red like the icing, your eyes are pink like the filling, and your cheeks sorta remind me of the apples that they chop up to put in it. I was also thinking of calling you "Sakura" or "Peony", but we already have a Sakura (at this, Sakura really did fall off the chair... I stopped to help her back up) and Peonies are..."

He thought for a moment, then...

"Hey, maybe we should call you "Peony" after all! You do match the colors well..."

This was ridiculous enough that it actually caused Chiharu to get up from bed (despite the doctor's wishes... she still needed time to heal) and comically _drag_ Yamazaki back to his bed, despite adorable callings of "Aww, Chiharu, the names were perfect though."

Hiiragizawa began to speak again:

"So... his name, for now anyway, will be Mohji. Since you guys will probably be fully ready within a few hours, I suggest we start restocking for when we begin to move out. We'll probably have to wait out the storm, however... it's beginning to look rather nasty outside..."

He turned to the boy, newly christened "Mohji", saying:

"As for you... you'll be joining our team for the time being."

Wait a minute... we were bringing the kid along?

"Hiiragizawa-kun! Isn't that against the rules...?" said Sakura.

"It may be, but those who attacked us earlier may be in town... and would no doubt kill him since he's apparently of no further use. That, and he could be some use to us... tactically, I mean."

Mohji seemed taken aback by this... surprised that Hiiragizawa would take him in after the incident. "I...I can come with you guys?"

Hiiragizawa turned to him, saying: "Of course." he turned back to the group:

"Now that I think of it, we haven't chosen a specific name to call ourselves yet. Any ideas?"

That was true, we haven't thought of a name for ourselves yet. Already, our fellow home teams were already christening themselves "The Flamers", "The Green Dragons", the "Bombing Raiders", the "r0ck Krew", and so on and so forth. Thus far, we have been known only as "Team 236".

Yamazaki, although being held down by Chiharu on his bed, mummified in bed sheets, thought for a moment, and gave his idea of what the team name should be...

"I know! How about... the SALAD team?"

I sweatdropped. Salad. Why does everything he seems to say in regards to names have to do with food? I mean, he was our team chef, yea, but seriously...

He continued:

"I mean, we're from different countries, aren't we? Hiiragizawa and I are from one, Mohji's from another, and Naoko, Sakura, and Chiharu are from our home team's country, Syaoran is from another country also..."

Speaking of Naoko...

"Heck no... using that logic, I guess that means we could call ourselves the PALETTE team too, huh? Or the "Stew" team?" retorted Chiharu.

"Those work too!" replied Yamazaki.

"How about we just... call ourselves 'United'?" said Sakura.

We thought for a moment... although it was a little... simple, she actually has a point. That described our team perfectly... here we were, from different societies, yet united in the same team...

"That could work..." thought Yamazaki..

"Certainly better than what you've come up with..." said Chiharu under her breath.

Hiiragizawa's mind seemed to be on something else, however. He spoke:

"Has anyone seen Private Naoko around?"

Silence filled the room. As a matter of fact... where WAS Naoko?

"She wasn't at the inn with you?" said Sakura.

He simply shook his head no... and she wasn't hurt, either. The last time we (Hiiragizawa and I) saw her, she was supposed to be taking residence at the local inn with Hiiragizawa until we got better, but...

There was a roll of thunder. Lightning flashed across the sky, blinding us and illuminating the room for a split second. The storm outside continued to grow worse...

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(Sakura's POV)

Naoko...

I managed to stand up without the crutches, the pain increasing in my leg. Syaoran attempted to stop me, but before even I knew what was happening, I somehow found myself outside... running amidst the pouring rain and flooding ground, amidst the roaring winds, the thunder, the lightning, against nature itself. I looked everywhere I could see for Naoko... yelling her name out constantly... I ducked into the inn for a moment, holding onto some faint hope that she would be in there... she was not.

I ran outside again... my robe was already soaked through, and I wasn't wearing much underneath, yet I didn't care. I just had to find Naoko-chan... where had she gone? What happened to her?

"NAOKO-chan!"

I tripped, sliding on the wet cobblestone. Something... probably someone, caught me... and I soon found myself back inside, shivering greatly, yet in the hug of someone warm...

"Sakura-chan... you're going to kill yourself running outside like that..."

"Sakura..."

Two voices... I think I'm dosing off again... in between great, great coldness, and sometimes pain from my leg, I couldn't really make heads or tails of anything... the blurriness was coming back...

All I could remember from that point... was closing my eyes... and falling into a deep sleep.

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Author's Notes:

"Mohji" isn't a real desert, but IS real in this universe, lol.

"Sakura" is Nihongo (Japanese) for "Cherry Blossom" (but hopefully, you already knew that)

A "Peony" is real.

And as for the team name... you can now guess just how this story got it's title. Much better than "stew" doncha think?

Thanks for reading, to those of you who got this far.

-Macampos


	7. Chapter 7: Mohji's Story

**A little late on Chapter 7... finals this week. **

**DISCLAIMER: **The characters Syaoran, Sakura, Takashi, Chiharu, and Eriol are based LOOSELY off the characters of the same name in the anime/manga Cardcaptor Sakura, and are owned by their authors/artists, CLAMP. The story, plot, and original characters within this fanfiction are owned by me, and me only. (Pm first before using an original character, please).

**Enjoy the chapter, and a warm Merry Christmas in advance!**

**Note: Chapter entirely in Mohji's point of view.**

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The girl who had ran out earlier returned, followed by two of the boys. She was soaked from head to toe in water from the rain outside, her wet hair matting her miserable face.

After changing quickly in the bathroom, she immediately went underneath the sheets of a nearby bed, and from what I saw, probably went to sleep.

The boy with the glasses spoke: "Poor Sakura... she's in shock... we'll shall have to look for Naoko tomorrow. For now, let's all get a good night's rest..."

The other boy was kneeling at the girl's side, tucking her in. He nodded, eventually leaving the room a few minutes later.

The bespeckled boy looked to me, saying:

"You should get some sleep too, Mohji-kun. We're moving out early tomorrow..."

I went to the bed I was sitting next to, eyeing the others curiously. They didn't seem... dangerous. Almost reminded me of my old team...

The Red Raiders...

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I was dreaming, probably. Of happier times, wishfully. But that didn't seem to be the case.

Faces... eyes... smiles... I had seen them all. But what I saw mostly... were blank expressions.

I was told that I was only two years old when I lost my real parents. I was found in a "burning building, nearly collapsed on you" and that "your parent's bodies were never found."

That never gave me much comfort.

So, I was raised in an orphanage from time to time. The first orphanage burned down too. From then on, I began to associate fire... with change. The great changer. It was only the second time that it had happened to me, but I kept it anyway. I was still trying to find a reason for things...

"There are reasons for everything. For every reaction there is an equal and opposite reaction." my second "dad" told me. This was before he died... shot in his... office... he had only adopted me a week earlier.

And so, on to another orphanage they sent me. Except, I was alone there... I mean really, alone. No one looked like me. When people noticed my hair color, they stayed away from me. I tried covering it with a blanket once... the nurse forced me to remove it, and I guess I was better off, because the other kids called me a "transvestite" or whatever for wearing it. And when I removed it...

I guess being alone is better than being called a "transvestite" all your life. What's a transvestite?

Another family adopted me. Both brown haired, smiles, smiles... and no problems with the fact that I seemed different from all the rest. Maybe that's what they wanted in a child... someone who was different from all the rest in some way.

I had already eaten dinner, and it was late, so I went straight to bed...

I jumped out the window the next day. My "mom" told me too. There was a gunshot before she said that. There were shadows fighting past the wall...

I landed into a bunch of bushes, it scratched my face a bit. There was a scream from one story above...

So, I found myself again at the orphanage. This time, however, they took me in... what's the word? Reluctantly. The kids still stared at me.

Someone was saying something during lunch the next day...

"That kid... he's bad _reesu_, I say."

"Yah... everyone who adopts him dies."

"What's with his hair and eye color anyway? He sorta reminds me of _deedos_."

"Yah, _deedos_."

I still don't know what "deedos" and "reesu" mean. Something bad, I suppose.

I remember... outside, when everyone was playing ball... one of the balls rolled up to me, so I took it. Then, when I tried to give it back, the others wouldn't touch it.

They said:

"No! Get away from us, cursed kid."

They pranced around me, saying that... over... and over... and over...

"Cursed kid, cursed kid cursed kid, cursed kid, cursed kid..."

I ran out of the circle, brushing past a girl. From then on, I realized everyone looked at that girl weird...

"Oh no, he gave the girl his curse! Everyone stay away from her!"

I didn't find out until later what it meant to be "cursed".

I couldn't take it anymore. No one liked me. No one like-liked me. And at all else... I hated myself.

So I thought... maybe I should just die...

But...

I held the knife... I coulda done it...

Coulda...

But I couldn't. Why?

Anyways... I figured it would be better if I just ran off. The other adults who ran the orphanage didn't really like me around anyway... I found out later that they were required to take in all "stray" kids. They weren't doing it out of...

Compassion... big word.

So I ran... or walked. I couldn't help but keep looking back. Looking back a t that three-story building that was the second orphanage...

Because the first one burned down.

I don't remember how far I walked... but what I do remember...

I got mugged. Middle of the highland mountains. I was really afraid (and expecting) some big High-Lander people to appear and eat me. I had heard stories about the race of High-Landers... the big people, so big that they could swallow us as babies whole.

Instead someone bopped me on the head with a rock and took my food.

So... I really wanted to die. Wanted to throw myself off. But something held me back...

I was too scared. Too scared to die... too scared for anything. Too scared of...

Life.

I walked on anyways. Somehow, I tripped. I'm clumsy like that.

And when I came to...

The person staring down at me had red hair, and pink eyes.

Everyone did. Everywhere I looked...

The kids had red hair and pink eyes. The adults had red hair and pink eyes.

Was this heaven?

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It had been a few years. I found myself once again in an orphanage... but at least everyone looked like me.

And at least no one would constantly call me names, afraid that I had some lethal disease, or try to kill me.

But... I kept to myself. No point in making any relationships. I knew what happened when I tried to make relationships with people...

_"Red, JUMP!"_

_"But Mom..."_

_"AHHHHHHHH!"_

Red. That's what my third "mom" called me before she could think of a proper name. That's what she used when she forced me out a window.

I was... twelve now. It had been another regular day... I walked down the wooden, squeaking hallways to the bathroom, when the orphanage manager and a man blocked my way. The manager was saying how I was the oldest one they had.

"_This_ is the oldest... _child_ here?"

I had to go really bad... so I tried to force myself through them. Didn't work.

"Yes... he came in a few years ago..."

Still tried to force myself through them. The man held me tight, stared with his red, bloodshot eyes into mine.

"... He will do. I want his papers..."

"He has none. He just walked into the village a few years ago... probably a run away."

The man turned and looked at the orphanage manager, then said:

"Perfect."

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Another dad...

Or so I thought.

Instead, I somehow found myself in what they called "boot camp". Gave me a helmet (really big for me... couldn't see anything) and a rifle, and I was sent off to "marksman training".

I shot at red circles all day, everyday. Really, that's all I did...

And then, a few months later, of firing at moving circles... I found myself in what they called "teams".

A team... everyone else in the team was older than me. Much older. They also noticed I was a lot younger than them...

Yet they didn't care.

They didn't care about my size... what I looked like, or anything. Wow.

Tom was... the team leader. He had the same hair as I did, except his eyes were slightly darker and coarser. There were other three, but I don't remember them that well... I guess we never... talked.

Then, there was Elaine. She had pink hair and equally pink eyes, sorta like mine. She was sixteen... I was... am... twelve.

And yet she kept treating me like her little bro. Tom was the same way.

I remember... the guys in the team... we called it the "Red Raiders" referred to me as "Iol" Elaine ruffled my head a lot. We didn't really know what we were doing... I suppose when the camp let us off, it was if we were allowed to go and do whatever we wanted...

So I just followed the others.

We were camping in... what was it? Caroline's Ridge. I was shooting at rocks we had put on a ledge. I missed three rocks out of five.

"You're holding it wrong again... here, like this..." Tom would say. Hold it like this... aim like this... pretend that you were the bullet...

_PANG_

"Nice shot. See... just follow that method, and you'll get it every time."  
Well, at least I do something productive now...

I didn't know what it was like to have a mother. Probably because I was two when she probably died. And so, I didn't think that Elaine was acting motherly...

I just thought I was acting weird. I probably was.

"Iol, what's your name?"

"... I don't have one."

Shock. I think that's what showed on their faces.

They'd didn't press the question further, they just kept calling me that name. "Iol."

Where have I heard that before...

Nightfall. I was about to go to sleep... Tom was first watch... then...

_BLAM_

Something sticky and wet exploded from Tom's head.

Eyes... glowing in the dark... one by one, with muffled screaming, the other three disappeared into the night. Tom lay still... never moving.

Elaine went behind me, taking me into her arms... she was holding a small knife.

Someone came forward...

White hair... glowing red eyes...

"Listen... Iol... whatever happens... please, please survive... you have a whole life ahead of you... survive..."

The white haired person charged forward. I was ready to die... I just barely heard what she said. She moved in front of me quickly...

I heard a sickening _slitch_.

Elaine fell to the ground in front of her, partially covering me.

I had my rifle, but was too scared to move it...

The glowing eyes... they were all around me... coming closer... closer...

Closer...

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Author's Notes:

"Iol"s... baby "Calos", a creature that's similar to what we know as "sheep", except extra fluffy, and look like walking marshmallows (fictional creature I made up).

As with our word "kid", "Iol" is a word used by those of the Red race to describe children. As Kid is a baby goat, Iol is a baby Calos.

"Reesu" - Made up word, means "luck" here.

"Deedos" - Made up word, similar to the Green race's word deimdos, which means "demon" or "devil". The children probably call him this due to his uncharistically red hair and eyes.

Making new languages is fun... I recommend it.

Till next week...

-Macampos


End file.
